FarmBioNet attended the first Farming for Nature Festival
On Tuesday, June 23, 2026, the FarmBioNet team attended the inaugural Farming for Nature Festival in Stradbally, Co. Laois at Ballykilcavan Farm and Brewery.
The festival brought together farmers, agri-environmental organisations, food producers and rural communities to explore what is working for their farms and their pocket while reconnecting farming, nature and food, Meritxell Grau Butinyac, Claudia Barry, Eithne Browne and Saorla Kavanagh tell us more.
Throughout the day, farmer-led sessions and hand-on field demonstrations took place, sharing experiences from what works on the ground, the successes, challenges and practical decisions that make nature-friendly farming work.
Knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer across farmers is the foundation of the FarmBioNet project, which has been promoting peer-to-peer learning through its National Network (NN) of farmers and stakeholders across Ireland.
During the Farming for Nature Festival, we had the opportunity to attend the discussions led by some of our National Network members including Andrew Bergin and Nigel Gillis.
During his session, Andrew talked about the “more on” approach, if something was not working, add more; with fertiliser application as an example, followed by his experiences of continuously exploring alternatives to the management of his farm which led him to prioritise soil health and join BASE Ireland to learn first-hand from other farmers and implement their knowledge in his farm. His concluding message was “see nature as an ally, not an adversary”.
Farmer-led panel from session titled “Building resilience for your farm and your pocket”, chaired by Ella McSweeny with Ken Gill, Donal Sheehan and Andrew Bergin.
Nigel was part of the panel in the session titled ‘Show me the money’, where farmers discussed examples from their own finances with farming for nature in mind. He highlighted his change from conventional to biological practices over the past 12 years, and how as an organic farmer he had to take financial risks as well as broaden his knowledge.
As implied by the session’s title, Nigel used the example of not buying intercrop organic seed, instead saving the seed from his own farm, which clearly showed a saving for his enterprise. With the changes in his farming system, he also noticed a positive impact on the environment, with increased number of owls nesting in his farm.
Nigel Gillis presenting during the session titled ‘Show me the money’.
In our FarmBioNet stand, we had the pleasure to catch up with other National Network members but also introduce our project to other attendees of the festival, listening to their experiences and work reminded us of the passion and effort they put into farming with nature in mind.
Other key home messages we brought with us after listening to the farmers across the sessions at the festival were the importance of nature being present in the farm; success stories from BASE Ireland farmers transitioning to regenerative farming; the key role of soil health, and the wealth of knowledge across the farming community, with “farmers learning from farmers” being the focal point of all discussions.
The messages from the Farming for Nature Festival clearly aligned with the FarmBioNet ethos, reinforcing our goal to promote and support peer-to-peer learning within Ireland and across Europe.
FarmBioNet is funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme and associated country partners are funded by SERI.
